1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to technology for estimating the transmission torque of a dry clutch arranged between the engine and the transmission of a vehicle and, more particularly, to technology for exactly estimating a relationship between the actuating stroke of an actuator and the transmission torque of a dry clutch used for an automated transmission such as an Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) so that the dry clutch can be suitably controlled using the actuator.
2. Description of Related Art
An automated manual transmission, such as an AMT or a Double Clutch Transmission (DCT), is a system for automatically controlling a manual transmission mechanism, and is configured to transmit the torque of an engine to a gear-shift mechanism using a dry clutch, unlike a typical Automatic Transmission (A/T) that uses a torque converter and a wet multi-plate clutch.
The dry clutch has the characteristics of its transmission torque greatly varying with a plurality of factors, such as the allowance of each of several components, an abrasion degree caused by the progress of endurance, thermal deformation caused by high temperature, and a variation in the friction factor of a disk, thus making it difficult to estimate torque transmitted to the dry clutch during the driving of a vehicle.
The dry clutch is controlled by an actuator, and the actuator is typically controlled by a Torque-Speed (T-S) curve indicating a variation in the transmission torque of the dry clutch relative to the stroke of the actuator. As described above, since the transmission torque of the dry clutch varies greatly due to various factors, when the variation in the transmission torque can be neither sensed nor exactly reflected during the control of the dry clutch, an excessive slip of the dry clutch may occur or a shock may be caused in the dry clutch, thus requiring an algorithm for estimating the torque characteristics of the dry clutch in real time.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the better understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.